Thanks to Paul Grein, who writes the “Chart Watch” blog for Yahoo, we now know that one of legendary Cincinnati-based King Records’ impressive chart-topping records has been toppled. James Brown’s King release Pure Dynamite! Live at the Royal was the last mono-only release to make Billboard magazine’s Top 10 until John Mellencamp’s new No Better Than This, which recently hit No. 10 in its first week of release.—-
Brown’s album — recorded at the Royal Theater in Baltimore — reached No. 10 in April, 1964, less than a year after his classic Live at the Apollo had been released. This research was prompted by a question from Mellencamp’s publicist, Bob Merlis.
FYI, check out Brian Baker’s review of No Better Than This here.
This article appears in Sep 1-7, 2010.